Thursday, September 5, 2013

Make Meals More A-Peeling

Boost Nutrients in Meals with Fruit and Vegetable Peels

Reducing waste and boosting taste to your meals is as easy as adding some apple peel to your sandwich. The skins and other discarded parts of fruits and veggies are packed with fiber and disease-fighting nutrients, so instead of tossing them out, get twice as many meals out of one food with these delicious ideas (just be sure to choose organic produce to avoid sketchy chemicals).

Potato Skins

Why: About half of the spud's hunger-quelling fiber is in the skin.

How: Make potato crisps. Place peelings on a baking sheet and sprinkle with oil, salt, black pepper, and cayenne. Bake at 400°F until crisp, 10 to 15 minutes.

Apple Peels

Why: They contain nearly all of the fruit's quercetin, an antioxidant that helps ward off certain cancers, according to a study in Nutrition Journal.

How: Add peels to a ham and cheese sandwich. Layer ham, thinly sliced apple peels, and grated Cheddar on a slice of whole grain bread, then broil until the cheese is bubbly.

Kiwi Peels

Why: Yep, they really are edible! They're also rich in vitamin E and disease-fighting flavonoids.